WELCOME FRIENDS, FAMILY & FACULTY!

This blog is an art history experiment for our Italian Renaissance travel course. We hope that you, our visitors, will not only take some time to read about what we are studying, but will ALSO feel free to make comments or ask us questions...especially after we see (most of) these things in person. As we travel, we will offer personal reflections on our experiences. After we fly out on the 17th, follow us as we visit Rome (May 18-20), Florence (20-24), and Venice (24-25). We return on Thursday, May 26...just in time for the holiday weekend.

Monday, May 9, 2011

Perugino, Christ Giving the Keys to St. Peter

Perugino
Christ Giving the Keys to St. Peter
1480-82


  • Commissioned by Pope Sixtus IV from 1480-82
  • Christ is giving the keys of heaven and earth to Peter
  • It is located in a piazza in front of a church because Peter was upon whom the church would be built
  • There are 2 scenes depicted in the background
    • On the left hand side is the scene in which Christ says “render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's”, which comes from Matthew 22:21
    • On the right is the stoning of Christ; who according to John, hid himself, then passed through the midst of the assailants. 
  • The perspective of the piazza following the Albertian system
  • The openness of the fresco is very un-Florentine
    • This allows the eye to wander freely through the piazza, which is filled with nothing to distract
    • This also allows for a continuation outside the piece and to the others within the walls of the Sistine Chapel
    • No piazza was ever in existence during the Renaissance, as it would have been seen as a waist of space and not practical
-Ry

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